How many Board members is to many?

Started by DouglasA1 • 12 replies • 803 views

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DouglasA1 (Arizona)
Posts: 6

Posted:

I have heard from quite a few people in my area, and i curious about the larger HOA community. We have 550 Homes in our community and the majority of answers i get and see is that for roughly every 150-200 homes there should be a board member assumiung your CC&Rs allow it.

Does anyone have any guidance around this?

TimM11
Posts: 354

Posted:

Obviously, it depends on what your documents say. I've never seen anything in terms of general guidance, though.

In my old HOA, we didn't have a fixed number of BOD members, but could have up to 15 per our docs as long as it was an odd number. We usually had five, but sometimes up to seven and at times down to three. This was for an HOA in the upper double digits of units.

KerryL1 (California)
Posts: 14,550

Posted:

We're a twin tower high rise condo of 200+ units. One director would not be anywhere close to enough casey of our complex infrastructure and even budgets.

We have 7 & one is a commercial director for the 5% of the premises that belong to the commercial owner. We also have a full-time onsite PM, who has an assistant. We could be fine with 5 instead of 7 directors.

I think most bylaws state a number or a range. AZ's corporations code might specify a minimum.

MarkW18
Posts: 1,290

Posted:

I am going out on a limb and say you probably have a management company involved in your complex. That being said, all you probably need is three, that being the number of real officers allowed, president, secretary and treasurer. Also, what are you real day-to-day functions?

JohnC46 (South Carolina)
Posts: 14,265

Posted:

Our docs call for a BOD of 3 to 7 for 112 homes. We have decided 5 is sufficient. We have run a low as 3 and that was fine as we have an MC. I say with an MC, 3 to 5 is enough.

MarkM19 (Texas)
Posts: 1,459

Posted:

We have nearly 1400 SFH and have 5 board members. I think any more or any less would be ineffective. The idea should not be to fill seats. It should be to get good quality people with diverse backgrounds that are willing to work for the greater good of the HOA.

I have often said that most people run for board positions for just a few main reasons.

1) They do not like or trust what the existing board is doing.
2) Thinks they are better suited to run the business
3) Does not have all of the facts but thinks they know all the answers.
4) Wants to make sure his or her issue gets resolved.

The worst of the above is number 4 because as soon as they succeed in getting what they want they become distant and stop contributing.

GenoS (Florida)
Posts: 4,276

Posted:

#4 is also known as having a personal agenda and they tend to be bad board members. The other 3 reasons cited are all valid. #1 and #3 usually go hand-in-hand.

GeorgeS21 (Florida)
Posts: 3,808

Posted:

I know of a neighborhood in my area that has 42 properties and 10 directors. It is reportedly a mess.

EdC5 (Florida)
Posts: 117

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By GeorgeS21 on 11/08/2019 3:44 PM
I know of a neighborhood in my area that has 42 properties and 10 directors. It is reportedly a mess.

I managed a property in Florida that had a theoretical board of 16 people (because of the way the community was set up -- in reality is was 9 or 10).

Edward J Cooke, CMCA, LCAM

GeorgeS21 (Florida)
Posts: 3,808

Posted:

And, another reason ... the one I and many have ... if not me then who?

PaulJ6
Posts: 990

Posted:

In private-sector companies, I see up to 7 directors, usually. More than that means longer meetings and too many people talking.

KellyM3 (North Carolina)
Posts: 2,239

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By DouglasA1 on 11/07/2019 7:25 AM
I have heard from quite a few people in my area, and i curious about the larger HOA community. We have 550 Homes in our community and the majority of answers i get and see is that for roughly every 150-200 homes there should be a board member assumiung your CC&Rs allow it.

Does anyone have any guidance around this?

A 5 to 9 member member would serve your community well. Don't stack the board to maximum numbers for the sake of full board capacity. It's quality and competence over headcount but meet your minimums for size.

ZaritaG (California)
Posts: 1

Posted:

We have 194 units in our community. When I moved here, there were 5 board members. When I joined the board, we rewrote the CCRs, stating a minimum of 3 board members, 5 as the maximum. This year we started with 5 and we are now down to 3. So we may stick with this number in the meantime

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